Julie Blacklow began her career in television news at KING TV in 1972 and worked there for 18 years. After several years as a freelance producer, she returned to work in local television news at KIRO TV for 7 years, leaving in 1998 to work once again as a freelance producer, reporter and director for almost every major cable and network television company in the United States. She is also a freelance writer and currently manages a horse ranch in Snoqualmie, Washington where she and partner Pepper Schwartz conduct leadership training workshops for corporate executives and employees.
Larry Coffman received a BA degree in journalism from Ohio's Bowling Green State University in 1960 and a MA in journalism from Syracuse University in 1963. He did the journalism "hat trick" from 1964 to 1968 as a reporter for the Associated Press, editor for the weekly Globe-News in Auburn and then staff writer for the Seattle Times. From 1968 to 1985, he was the marketing manager for Metro Transit. Coffman returned to his newspaper roots by launching MARKETING Newspaper as a monthly trade publication for the marketing communications industry in the Puget Sound area in 1986. In 2007 the paper became a bi-monthly publication.
Bob English began his radio career as a disc jockey while earning a B.Sc. degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. An on-air and programming stint at KCUB, Tucson, put him on a team that won Billboard magazine's Station of the Year award and led to his affiliation with Les Smith at WUBE, Cincinnati. He assumed General Manager duties in 1980, managed for Schering-Plough, then rejoined Smith in Seattle as President of Broadcast Programming International in 1983. The lure of The "X" brought him back to local radio in 1987 until shifting to out-of-home with Washington Transit Advertising in 1992. After managing the Seattle transit advertising franchise for Viacom, English was recruited back to his Texas roots by Lamar Transit Advertising in 2004 as VP/General Manager of the Dallas D.A.R.T. advertising franchise. He formed English Communications Group in 2008 to provide expertise on out-of-home advertising models to investors and transit agencies.
Fisher Communications Inc. was founded by the Fisher family, including Phelps' grandfather, Will. The company began as Fisher Flouring Mills, incorporating on April 4, 1910 and beginning milling operations in 1911. He began his career with Fisher as a mill messenger at age 12, working every Summer through his junior year at the UW, when hours of sweeping floors and packing flour resulted in an allergy to flour dust, ending his milling aspirations.
Broadcasting was a new venture for the company when it bought the license for a radio station that first went on the air as KOMO on Dec. 31, 1926. Phelps' father, Ken, then a UW student, was an announcer on its first day of operation. Phelps was part of the crew when KOMO-TV presented the first live color.
In the 63 years at Fisher, from mill messenger to chairman of the board, he learned that, while many things change, key marketing principles remain the same: understanding the needs of the customers and focusing on their success.
Bryan Johnson, senior correspondent/analyst, covers a variety of issues and events, offering a timely perspective on how the news affects residents of the Pacific Northwest.
A graduate of the UW, he began his career in 1955 as a Radio Engineer for KAPA in Raymond, WA. From 1962 to 1981, Johnson served as News Director for KOMO Radio, joining KOMO 4 News in 1976 where he has won many awards for outstanding reporting and News analysis including several local Emmys, and the National Unity in Broadcasting Award.
When Bryan is not in front of the camera or behind a microphone, he enjoys restoring vintage British automobiles.
As the widow of one of the most beloved NW broadcasters, Don McCune, Linda is in a unique position to write about him, not because she was his wife for 23 years before his death in 1993, but because she first saw him on television as a little girl. She wrote fan letters for eight years, went off to the UW to study biology while working at the National Marine Fisheries at the Montlake Lab. Although Don knew her as the little girl who wrote all the fan letters, he saw her while he was researching a fishing documentary at her lab. They married in 1970 after her graduation, built a log cabin house in Woodinville and raised three children there. Don left us way too soon from pancreatic cancer, but Linda continues to preserve and sell his written, radio and television works through the Website donmccunelibrary.com.
At radio station KJR-AM in Seattle, Pat O'Day was the leading disc jockey in the Northwest in the '60s and '70s and his station was one of the greatest in Top-40 radio history. There he influenced the musical tastes of an entire generation of teenagers (and their parents) - on-air with his wit, off-air with his ground-breaking work in the field of concerts and dances. Concerts West, a company he founded, developed into the largest concert-promotion firm in the world. It introduced a series of dramatic innovations that helped revolutionize the concert industry. Today, O'Day heads a real estate firm on San Juan Island in Washington State. He recently released the second printing of his autobiography, It Was All Just Rock 'n' Roll II.
Born in Seattle in 1936, Don Riggs graduated from Bellevue High School in 1954, where he was reporter, writer, newspaper editor and active in stage productions. At the UW school of Radio/TV, he worked on KUOW and was among the first booth announcers when KCTS went on the air, while part-time at KISW. After graduation in 1958, Riggs worked at KULE, Ephrata, then was drafted. He spent most of his Army time in a propaganda unit producing radio shows.
Back home in 1962, he worked for Sea-First Bank and then to KQOT in Yakima for 3 years. He married his wife, Maria, in 1964. Returning to Seattle, he passed through KTW, KREN, KVI, KIRO, KXA 1967-70, KFKF/KBES 1970-75 and then to KMPS, 1975-2008 where he was legend.